Mozzarella Sticks with French Onion Dip

I don't know how many times I found myself staring at mozzarella stick pictures on the internet. They look so good with all that melty cheese and crispy bread crumbs around it. I can't tell you how happy I am that I finally made them myself! For some reason, it often takes so much time for me when I decide to make something yummy that I've been craving for a long time.

Enough about these mozzarella sticks. You probably already know that they are amazing.

But this French onion dip...

This is MORE than amazing. Basically it seems like a simple dip. But these c a r a m e l i z e d onions change everything. It adds sweetness to a sour/salty dip. Actually I think that onions make every meal taste much better, they are my favourite ingredient. Especially when they are caramelized.

I hope you're already checking if you have all the ingredients and are preparing to make this right now. If you're too lazy to make mozzarella sticks, do make this dip because it's so good with everything. Really, so good.

Mozzarella Sticks

12 sticks of mozzarella string cheese
1/2 cup flour
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 - 2 cups bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika flakes
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp dried oregano*
oil for frying

*You may use/omit any seasoning you like. For example, I also like it with dried basil.
**The amount of the ingredients may vary here: it depends how much you flour the sticks or how much bread crumbs stick to your cheese so be ready to add some more ingredients if needed.


1) Place flour in a small dish. In another bowl, combine together eggs and milk. In a third bowl, combine bread crumbs with garlic powder, sweet smoked paprika flakes, pepper and oregano. Cut mozzarella sticks into halves.

2) Roll a half of mozzarella in flour, dip into egg-milk mixture, and roll in bread crumb mixture. Press crumbs in place so mozzarella stick is fully coated. Continue with remaining pieces. Place coated mozzarella sticks on a baking sheet and freeze for at least 30 minutes.

3) Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Remove frozen mozzarella sticks and fry a few pieces at a time. Fry about 30 seconds - 1 minute (depending on the heat), turning sticks until they are golden brown, and drain on paper towels. Continue with remaining sticks. Serve with french onion dip. Avocado-garlic dip and garlic-dill dip is also fine!! Eat these while hot!

French Onion Dip
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
200g sour cream
2 tbsp mayonnaise
large pinch salt
large pinch white pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cumin

1) Place onions and oil into a small saucepan and cook until onions are dark brown color, stiring occasionaly.

2) Drain any liquid off the onions and let cool completely. Combine onions with remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add salt to taste.

Spinach, Ricotta and Pesto stuffed Jumbo Shells

Pasta. Mozzarella. Ricotta. Spinach. Garlic. Pesto.

Sounds good.

But when these ingredients come together, it doesn't only sound good, it tastes amazing.

These jumbo shells were out of this world. I mean it. When I tasted them, I was almost crying. I couldn't believe how well they turned out! The filling was so creamy and so, so good. It rarely happens when I don't know what could be improved in a dish. And this time it happened! Really, they were perfect. And I ate 8 shells at once. I felt a bit guilty because one serving is 4 shells. As always.

Spinach, Ricotta and Pesto stuffed Jumbo Shells

200g jumbo pasta shells
250g ricotta
100g spinach, chopped
200g mozzarella, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp pesto sauce
1/3 tsp salt
pinch white pepper
2 cups pasta sauce*

*I used half homemade half Heinz.

1)  Preheat oven to 180 deg. C.

2) Boil pasta shells to al dente. Pour on cold water and coat with a dash of olive oil so they don't stick together.

3) In a medium bowl, combine together ricotta, spinach, 150g mozzarella, egg, garlic, dried oregano, pesto, salt and white pepper. Set aside.

4) Coat the bottom of your baking dish with 1 cup of pasta sauce.

5) Fill pasta shells with the filling and place them into the baking dish. Top with remaining pasta sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.

6) Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

After I made chocolate oatmeal, I was inspired to try out many more flavours. Pumpkin pie oatmeal sounded too good not to be made. I'm very happy that it tasted as good as it sounded. It's so creamy, packed with cinnamon and, most importantly, healthy. Oh, and easy. Too easy.


1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp brown sugar

½ cup milk

½ cup water

½ cup rolled oats

1 cup pumpkin puree

1) Bring the milk and water to boil.
 
2) Add the oats and pumpkin puree and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
 
3) Add the cinnamon, salt, spice, brown sugar and cook for an additional minute.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter. two magical words. In fact, I don't really like plain peanut butter by itself and I wouldn't eat it from the jar but added to baked goods it creates an amazing flavour. At least for now, I have never tried a bad tasting peanut butter dessert. Okay, now about these peanut butter cookies. Actually I'm not sure if I have ever made anything easier than this. Only three ingredients and you have the most delicious, fragrant treat. These cookies are very crunchy. However, they're slightly chewy in the centre and you have to be very careful about not overbaking them in order to achieve this texture. The sea salt made them completely fantastic.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (I used homemade)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Sea Salt for sprinkling (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) In a medium bowl, mix together peanut butter, sugar and egg until combined. With a small ice cream scoop, or just using your hands, form balls and place them on parchment paper.

3) Using a fork (or your hands), press down the cookies lightly to flatten, but don't flatten too much. Sprinkle with sea salt.

4) Bake until slightly golden brown, cracked, and still soft to the touch, 10-12 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Take them out of the oven when they still look a little bit underdone in the center because they will harden a bit. If you overbake them, the cookies will loose their chewiness. Cool completely on rack.

Blueberry Muffins

I don't remember when I last baked something with blueberries. After making a blueberry coffee cake where my blueberries sank, honestly, I was a little bit afraid to experience it again. But this time I floured the blueberries very well and they were so beautifully distributed in the whole muffin. They also rose very nicely, were moist, soft and packed with juicy berries. This recipe is a keeper. I will now look for a perfect blueberry muffin recipe with crumb topping and I also can't wait to try blueberry rolls. In fact, my freezer is full of berries! I have tons of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, wild strawberries, cherries, black and red currants. It's almost spring and there will be fresh strawberries so I have to hurry up and use them up!

Recipe adapted from here.

280g/2 cups all purpose flour
3g/1/2 tsp salt
8g/2 tsp baking powder
120g/8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
280g+1tbsp/1-1/4 cups plus 1 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
125ml/1/2 cup whole milk
250g/2 cups blueberries (if using frozen, do not thaw)

1) Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Grease 12 muffin cups.

2) Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

3) Cream the butter and 1-1/4 cups sugar in a large bowl, until light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add to the flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just until smooth.

4) Coat the blueberries with flour and mix into the batter.

5) Fill the muffin cups with batter. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar over the tops of muffins. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool completelys before removing from the cups.